KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Thousands of people packed into the Afghan capital’s airport on Monday, rushing the tarmac and pushing onto planes in desperate attempts to flee the country after the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government. U.S. troops fired warning shots as they struggled to manage the chaotic evacuation.
The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the U.S. and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan. The country’s Western-trained security forces collapsed or fled in the face of an insurgent offensive that tore through the country in just over a week, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last American troops at the end of the month.
Civilians occupy the runway and cling to the exterior of a C-17 Globemaster III as it attempts to take off, Hamid Karzai International Airport, #Kabul, Kabul province. pic.twitter.com/PdBI33U3u1
— Malik Ali Raza (@MalikAliiRaza) August 16, 2021
Afghans surround departing plane and attempt to board in desperate move
More: https://t.co/mkJ5rlh0NY pic.twitter.com/zugvHqGzWM
— RT (@RT_com) August 16, 2021
Three stowaways ‘fall to their deaths from plane’ and five are killed at airport as increasingly desperate Afghans climb on MOVING US Air Force jet as they flee from Taliban: All US Embassy staff have now been evacuated
